Q: System out of application memory

There is excessive swapping of data between physical memory (that is, the memory chips on the logic board) and virtual memory (one or more files on the startup volume.) That activity is relatively slow and causes the whole system to be less responsive. It can happen for two reasons:

          A long-running process with a memory leak (a kind of bug)

          Not enough memory for your usage pattern

Please note that if the cause is a memory leak, installing more memory will not help. That's likely if you already have more than 4 GB of memory. Tracking down a memory leak can be difficult, and it may come down to a process of elimination.

These instructions are for OS X 10.9 and later. Some details may be slightly different for earlier versions of OS X.

When you notice the swap activity, open the Activity Monitor application and select All Processes from the View menu, if it's not already selected. Select the Memory tab. Click the heading of the Real Mem column in the process table twice to sort the table with the highest value at the top. If you don't see that column, select

          View ▹ Columns ▹ Real Memory

from the menu bar.

If one process (excluding "kernel_task") is using much more memory than all the others, that could be an indication of a leak. A better indication would be a process that continually grabs more and more real memory over time without ever releasing it. Here is an example of how it's done.

The processes named "Safari Web Content" render web pages for Safari. They use a lot of memory and may leak if certain Safari extensions or third-party web plugins are installed. Consider them prime suspects.

Another process often implicated in memory leaks is "inkjet4" or "inkjet8," which is a component of the HP printing software. If it's present, force-quit the process in Activity Monitor to solve the problem temporarily. Empty the print queues in the Printers & Scanners preference pane (which has a slightly different name in each recent version of OS X.) If you don't use an HP printer, reset the printing system. Otherwise, if the problem is recurrent, update the software (which may not help) or contact HP support.

"Wired" memory should be a small part of the total. That memory is not swapped, but it makes less physical memory available which may then result in swapping. If you have a lot of wired memory, that's usually an indication of a memory leak in a third-party program that modifies the operating system at a low level. Ask for guidance in that case.

If you don't have an obvious memory leak, the options are to install more memory (if possible) or to run fewer programs simultaneously.

The next suggestion is only for users familiar with the shell. For a more precise, but potentially misleading, test, run the following command:

sudo leaks -nocontext -nostacks process | grep total

where process is the name of a process you suspect of leaking memory. Almost every process will leak some memory; the question is how much, and especially how much the leak increases with time. I can’t be more specific. See the leaks(1) man page and the Apple developer documentation for details.

All that looks normal. A memory leak is usually intermittent. You'll have to follow the memory activity over time to spot it.

You problem is most likely that a process (or set of processes) have consumed too much virtual memory and the operating system has run out of page table entries to manage any more virtual memory.

With respect to virtual memory reporting, I do not like the current generation of Activity Monitor.   You can try running the following command from an Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal session

ps ax -o pid,user,rss,vsz,command

The VSZ column tells you how much virtual memory (in 1K units) each process is using.  You want to look at the 'ps' output for any extremely large VSZ using process (or set of processes).

I did not notice any problem of RAM usage,  until last week.

While doing a performance test on my App, i found out safari took a lot of RAM.

to open a 230 megapixels image from google image, took 3 to 3.5G RAM,

while Chrome took 2.0 - 2.5G of RAM.

Chrome use the Helpers to cache images.

If you open and used a lot of Chrome Pages,  of Large Images, it will take a lot, and a lot of RAM.

Bookmark the page, and close it.

Look at your  task list, chrome helper took a lot more than you see on the list.

Because Cache-Image RAM will not count toward the App, or any App.

Just since yesterday I have the same problem, and used the activity monitor to discover that I have two "installer" programs that automatically turn on a couple of minutes after rebooting. They are the obvious leaks: within a minute of becoming active, they are each above the 5Gig level and climbing. (Thanks for the instructions on how to find them - very useful)

My next question is: how do I permanently fix or remove the programs? They are each only called "installer" so I don't know where to look for them.

You might want to start your own post since this one is from last year. A new post would be much more visible. You can link to this one.

Wait until the installers are running and then run an Etrecheck report.

The program was created by Etresoft, a frequent contributor.  Please use copy and paste as screen shots can be hard to read. On the screen with Options, please open Options and check the bottom 2 boxes before running. Click “Share Report” button in the toolbar, select “Copy to Clipboard” and then paste into a reply. This will show what is running on your computer. No personal information is shown.
  

Etrecheck – System Information

Bbesides starting a new "Post", you might want to see if you have acquired adware, which often pretends to be an installer. Genieo comes to mind as one of them.

The EtreCkeck info Eric requested should help

Here's my EtreCheck report. Very helpful - thanks!

EtreCheck version: 3.0.3 (307)

Report generated 2016-09-12 17:05:59

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime 2:13

Performance: Excellent

Click the [Support] links for help with non-Apple products.

Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.

Click the [Remove] links to remove adware.

Problem: Apps are crashing

Hardware Information: ⓘ

    Mac mini (Late 2014)

    [Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]

    Mac mini - model: Macmini7,1

    1 2.6 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2-core

    16 GB RAM Not upgradeable

        BANK 0/DIMM0

            8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

        BANK 1/DIMM0

            8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

    Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported

    Wireless:  en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

Video Information: ⓘ

    Intel Iris

        HP 22xw 1920 x 1080

System Software: ⓘ

    OS X Yosemite 10.10.5 (14F1912) - Time since boot: less than an hour

Disk Information: ⓘ

    APPLE SSD SM0128F disk0 : (121.33 GB) (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)

        EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

        Boot OS X (disk0s3) <not mounted> : 134 MB

        Macintosh HD (disk2) / : 1.11 TB (894.67 GB free)

            Core Storage: disk0s2 120.99 GB Online

            Core Storage: disk1s2 999.35 GB Online

    APPLE HDD HTS541010A9E662 disk1 : (1 TB) (Rotational)

        EFI (disk1s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

        Recovery HD (disk1s3) <not mounted>  [Recovery]: 650 MB

        Macintosh HD (disk2) / : 1.11 TB (894.67 GB free)

            Core Storage: disk0s2 120.99 GB Online

            Core Storage: disk1s2 999.35 GB Online

USB Information: ⓘ

    Apple, Inc. IR Receiver

    Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub

        Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

     Webcam C170

    Mitsumi Electric Hub in Apple Extended USB Keyboard

        2.4G KB 2.4G Mouse

        Mitsumi Electric Apple Extended USB Keyboard

    Apple Inc. MacBook Air SuperDrive

Thunderbolt Information: ⓘ

    Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus

Gatekeeper: ⓘ

    Mac App Store and identified developers

Adware: ⓘ

    ~/Library/LaunchAgents/Javeview.update.plist

    ~/Library/LaunchAgents/Kuklorest.AppVemoral.plist

    ~/Library/LaunchAgents/Kuklorest.btvlit.plist

    ~/Library/LaunchAgents/Kuklorest.dolnwoad.plist

    ~/Library/LaunchAgents/Kuklorest.uadpte.plist

    ~/Library/Safari/Extensions/Kuklorest.safariextz

    6 adware files found. [Remove]

Unknown Files: ⓘ

    ~/Library/LaunchAgents/mg.update.plist

        ~/Library/Application Support/mg/MG.app/Contents/MacOS/MG

    One unknown file found. [Check files]

System Launch Agents: ⓘ

    [not loaded]    5 Apple tasks

    [loaded]    149 Apple tasks

    [running]    58 Apple tasks

System Launch Daemons: ⓘ

    [not loaded]    47 Apple tasks

    [loaded]    135 Apple tasks

    [running]    79 Apple tasks

Launch Agents: ⓘ

    [failed]    com.adobe.ARMDCHelper.cc24aef4a1b90ed56a725c38014c95072f92651fb65e1bf9c8e43c37a2 3d420d.plist (2016-07-21) [Support]

    [running]    com.rosettastone.rosettastonedaemon.plist (2010-02-28) [Support]

    [loaded]    com.webprint.osx.upload.plist (2011-11-27) [Support]

Launch Daemons: ⓘ

    [loaded]    com.adobe.ARMDC.Communicator.plist (2016-07-21) [Support]

    [loaded]    com.adobe.ARMDC.SMJobBlessHelper.plist (2016-07-21) [Support]

    [loaded]    com.adobe.fpsaud.plist (2016-04-15) [Support]

    [loaded]    com.bombich.ccc.plist (2011-07-28) [Support]

    [loaded]    com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist (2012-04-02) [Support]

User Launch Agents: ⓘ

    [loaded]    Javeview.update.plist (2016-08-10) Adware!  [Remove]

        ~/Library/Application Support/Javeview/Javeview.app/Contents/MacOS/AppNOS

    [loaded]    Kuklorest.AppVemoral.plist (2016-08-10) Adware!  [Remove]

        ~/Library/Application Support/Kuklorest/Kuklorest.app/Contents/MacOS/AppYM

    [loaded]    Kuklorest.btvlit.plist (2016-08-10) Adware!  [Remove]

        ~/Library/Application Support/Kuklorest/Kuklorest.app/Contents/MacOS/AppYM

    [loaded]    Kuklorest.dolnwoad.plist (2016-08-10) Adware!  [Remove]

        ~/Library/Application Support/Kuklorest/Kuklorest.app/Contents/MacOS/AppYM

    [loaded]    Kuklorest.uadpte.plist (2016-08-10) Adware!  [Remove]

        ~/Library/Application Support/Kuklorest/Kuklorest.app/Contents/MacOS/AppYM

    [failed]    com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist (2011-09-03) [Support]

    [loaded]    com.google.keystone.agent.plist (2016-07-19) [Support]

    [loaded]    mg.update.plist (2016-06-29) [Support]

User Login Items: ⓘ

    Dropbox    Application  (/Applications/Dropbox.app)

    Skype    Application  (/Applications/Skype.app)

    Photo Stream URL    SMLoginItem  (/Applications/iPhoto.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/PhotoStreamAgent.app)

Internet Plug-ins: ⓘ

    DirectorShockwave: 11.0.0r465 (2008-08-01) [Support]

    Default Browser: 600 - SDK 10.10 (2015-10-28)

    Flip4Mac WMV Plugin: 2.1.0.33 (2006-07-12) [Support]

    RealPlayer Plugin: Unknown (2008-01-19) [Support]

    AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 15.017.20053 - SDK 10.11 (2016-08-02) [Support]

    FlashPlayer-10.6: 21.0.0.226 - SDK 10.6 (2016-04-21) [Support]

    Silverlight: 5.1.10411.0 - SDK 10.6 (2012-12-17) [Support]

    QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (2016-09-10)

    Flash Player: 21.0.0.226 - SDK 10.6 (2016-04-21) Outdated! Update

    iPhotoPhotocast: 6.0 (2007-12-09)

    NP_2020Player_IKEA: 5.0.94.1 - SDK 10.6 (2012-09-28) [Support]

    AdobePDFViewer: 15.017.20053 - SDK 10.11 (2016-08-02) [Support]

    SharePointBrowserPlugin: 14.6.6 - SDK 10.6 (2016-07-26) [Support]

    Scorch: 6.2.0 (2010-04-08) [Support]

    JavaAppletPlugin: 15.0.0 - SDK 10.10 (2012-06-13) Check version

Safari Extensions: ⓘ

    AdBlock - BetaFish, Inc. - https://getadblock.com (2016-06-18)

    Kuklorest - Kuklorest - http://www.kuklorest.com/faq#kuklorest (2016-09-10) Adware!  [Remove]

    Ecosia - The search engine that plants trees - Ecosia - https://ecosia.org/ (2015-10-20)

3rd Party Preference Panes: ⓘ

    Flash Player (2016-04-15) [Support]

Time Machine: ⓘ

    Skip System Files: NO

    Mobile backups: OFF

    Auto backup: NO - Auto backup turned off

    Volumes being backed up:

        Macintosh HD: Disk size: 1.11 TB Disk used: 219.81 GB

    Destinations:

        BACKUP Mac [Local]

        Total size: 250.24 GB

        Total number of backups: 190

        Oldest backup: 2011-10-16, 1:12 PM

        Last backup: 2015-03-14, 10:20 AM

        Size of backup disk: Too small

            Backup size 250.24 GB < (Disk used 219.81 GB X 3)

Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ

        90%    AppNOS

        88%    AppYM

        12%    mdworker(8)

         4%    WindowServer

         3%    taskgated

Top Processes by Memory: ⓘ

    5.47 GB    AppNOS

    5.46 GB    AppYM

    979 MB    kernel_task

    295 MB    Safari

    180 MB    Dropbox

Virtual Memory Information: ⓘ

    443 MB    Free RAM

    16.00 GB    Used RAM (1.13 GB Cached)

    0 B    Swap Used

Diagnostics Information: ⓘ

    Sep 12, 2016, 05:02:42 PM    Self test - passed

    Sep 11, 2016, 04:41:16 PM    /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/AppNOS_2016-09-11-164116_[redacted].cpu_resourc e.diag [Details]

        /Volumes/VOLUME/Installer.app/Contents/MacOS/AppNOS

See all that "RED" ?

Make it go away, by clicking on the EtreCheck [Remove] links,

long completed. The etrecheck is a very self-explanatory program: Thanks for the tip.